Damon was ready to retire before last season

According to Jon Heyman of Sports Illustrated, Johnny Damon was ready to walk away from baseball last spring with three years and $39 million remaining on his contract.

"I was just exhausted .... Burnt out,'' Damon told SI.com Tuesday. "[Retirement] definitely crossed my mind."

After a few days, Damon decided to return. "I knew these guys needed me,'' Damon said with a smile. How true that was.

Damon is in much better shape this spring and is overly confident.

From Peter Abraham:

“I’m ready to go out there and prove to everyone that I’m still a pretty good player. I’ve been pretty consistent over my career. But when you talk about good players in the league my name hardly comes up and I don‘t think that’s right. I need to go out there and show them.”

I love this attitude from Damon, and hopefully he delivers. He can still provide a spark from the leadoff spot and he is a much better option in left field than Hideki Matsui is.